What British People Say vs What We Mean

There's a difference between what British people say and what they mean... sometimes, anyway! It can be confusing, particularly for people from cultures who speak more directly.

This is general advice and will not always be true, but did you find it interesting anyway? What was new for you?

See the blog above for an overview of today's lesson.

0:00 - Intro
1:22 - Not too bad, actually
2:21 - I'll keep it in mind
3:01 - Brilliant
3:59 - Cheers
4:38 - Whenever you get a minute
5:20 - Sorry!
6:20 - I think you might have dropped something
7:26 - Summary
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[alejandrolydiacamacho]

Wow... so 'not bad' doesn't necessarily mean 'I'm feeling bad but I don't wanna make you feel uncomfortable by saying it'! I was reading it wrong for so many years, thank you for explaining it Muchael :) I also like your little jokes you put here and there in your videos, a lot :D

[naznin]

Thank you, I want to learn English and you help me😊

[akoysiayvantot]

English is indeed strange, probably it will lead to confusion and misunderstanding.
I’m speaking for myself not for Filipinos in general, here in the Philippines based on my observation filipinos are so direct in terms of speaking of what they mean. I think being direct or indirect in terms of speaking has advantages and disadvantages. For instance of being direct in terms of speaking you won’t create confusion however you might get hurt someone’s feelings.I hope the people here won’t get me wrong.✌️✌️
I hope teacher michael will notice me.
I’ve been listening your podcasts on spotify for two weeks.

[izzie]

Omg this vedio is so fun 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Cheers! This is what i exactly wanted! That's the way life goes all over the word. I can relate it

[evaristoborgesjr]

Yes, it sounds quite complicated to me! I guess I'll look rude concernings these themes... It's something like, "I said one thing, but mean another"... I hope not to be unpolite. Thank you again! Brazil

[finadianti]

Thank you Michael❤ love you from indonesia

[kalinapetrova]

Thank y❤️u, Michael!
Very useful, indeed! :)
In my country is absolutely acceptable to be honest or direct, but polite people are never direct 🌼

[biologistin]

So you’re learning two languages: English and what they actually mean by it 😂 Thank you for clearing that up, Michael!

[ym]

hi Michael, I really like this kind of video which talks about social skills and cultural difference between UK and other countries.
I am from Hong Kong and in our culture, quite similar to British, I think we also don’t express ourselves too direct to other people (some people can be really direct to friends, but I am not that kind of person) . Actually it’s quite a dilemma for me . If we tell others something good, say like I really have a good day/ i am so happy / I am so free/ I am so rich etc., I am afraid that people will think that I am arrogant and people may be jealous and start to curse me or badmouth me. If I am being too indirect, people may think that I am too pretentious/ fake . It also makes us more difficult to make friends as they may think that we are pushing them away by not telling them what we really feel.
The whole thing is just so hard!

[ramoncampoi]

In portuguese is very different. All words has meanings. If you want to say something indirectly we do have the right words and being directly we do have as well.

[tombeton]

"I think, you have dropped it." Hello Michael, i didn't catch this. I ask Dictionarys and Translation Services. It means, you lost something? Greetings from Berlin

[ekaterinagarnyk]

So, if I got this right, politeness of Englishmen rises proportionally their anger. What the lovely nation! I wish we were the same :))

[mohamedbouaouda]

Hello Michael. In my Arab culture, it is different but it is interesting and surprising! I like biodiversity even in languages! Many thanks.

[naturelover-igdy]

From where I belong, we're completely different in expressing our feelings Michael :)
I like this aspect of British culture, For indirectness of language brings lot of politeness in it as well. That being said, 'I'll keep this in mind' was new for me. How should I reply when someone says this?

[lafinestradiary]

"Whenever you get a minute" is a common expression that a woman says to his husband/boyfriend to get helped immediately 🤣

[marketakoci]

I love this topic! But this is not a very British way of saying things, is it? I should perhaps just say "not bad" :) OMG, why do we spend years studying English just to find out the phrases have a totally different meaning anyway?😁 Would be nice if you could make more videos on this topic. Markéta, your long-term student.

[chamilasampath]

That ia great lesson for me that actuallu i'd alreaddy got some experiences about that strange woord.in one occasion i had been learning english from uk based native speaker mean while he made a whatsapp group and published our opinions in their.then one day he blamed me that i misused his whatsapp wall.at that time i was really upset

[kenfromtokyo]

I always feel Brits behave a lot like us Japanese. They try to be quite reserved and do not show big feelings like say Americans do at least in terms of language use. But reactions to the covid-19 have illustrated such big differences, esp. mask-wearing, haha. Most Japanese wear a mask whenever they are, outside or inside without even being asked or being fined, but in the UK or in Europe in general, I suppose extremely few people wear it and many Japanese here wonder about that.(I know that is just a cultural thing.) Cheers from Tokyo!

[Masha-nkxf]

This is really interesting! Anyway are you all right? I just heard that stabbing happened in England and I was so worried about you! They were sure you were fine and my mom even said: you told me your English teacher was Cornish so since this did not happen in Cornwall I think he wasn’t there but we just have to hope that your English teacher was in Cornwall when it happened! It happened four days ago but I couldn’t tell you anything because I was just busy with school and stuff and I had my Wi-Fi broken besides I’ve been very worried about a friend of mine as shootings kept happening in the United States almost every day and we hadn’t spoken in a while but thankfully she told me she was fine and I’m glad but I still wish she was here in Italy with me now! I hope we Italians will soon welcome my best friend to our country! I mean aside from missing her all of these shootings kept worrying me and keep worrying me to this day however she always tells me she’s fine so I’m a bit less concerned however it’s still hard and I wonder when and if the Lord will change! However I’m just so glad my friend is fine and I was so worried that something could have happened to her but thankfully she was fine !!! Anyway I sincerely hope you are OK !!!!